Cylinders of compressed gas are routinely employed in various commercial, industrial and medical environments. Most cylinders have an elongated configuration which makes them inherently unstable when placed in an upright position. This instability creates numerous problems for the person using the apparatus, since very little force is necessary to tip the cylinder over.
Using a medical environment as an example, it should be appreciated that a respiratory therapist must continuously make minor adjustments to the pressure regulators which are attached to, and control the flow of oxygen from the cylinders to insure that proper oxygen levels are being supplied to the patient. The therapist must have an unobstructed view of the pressure guage dials, and unrestricted access to the regulator valves, to make the necessary adjustments. All too often, when the therapist manipulates the valves, a force is imparted to the cylinder, which is sufficient to tip it over and send it crashing to the floor. They are also smashed on corners of hallway walls, elevator doors, doorways of patient rooms, and are generally mishandled and dropped.
Throughout the day there are many patients receiving oxygen that must be transported by respiratory therapists, orderlies, and nursing personnel from their rooms to the x-ray department, physical therapy, recovery rooms after surgery, and from the sperinl care area to the private or semi-private rooms after they are off the critical list. This accounts for heavy use and abuse of regulators.
While the cylinder is ruggedly constructed and virtually impervious to damage from such a fall, the regulator valves, guages and associated connections are vulnerable to damage by virtue of their extended position relative to the cylinder. This is particularly so, since the weight of the associated hardware is normally cantilivered from the throat to the cylinder, tending to unbalance the cylinder in that general direction.
When a cylinder is knocked over, the weight of the entire assembly is therefore transmitted directly to the neck portion of the connecting hardware, which is inserted into the throat of the cylinder. Since the gauges and regulators are very sensitive instruments, it is a very rare instance when the impact of the falling cylinder does not result in damage to these components. A more serious situation commonly arises when the weight of the falling cylinder is transmitted directly to the neck portion of the connecting hardware, and fractures it. Not only is the above described situation annoying and costly to the hospital, but the interruption of oxygen to the patient is obviously not beneficial, and may produce dire consequences for the individual involved.
This problem is not unique to the medical profession and there have been several prior art devices on other fields which have attempted to provide a solution, examples of which can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,958,716; 2,946,223; 3,293,917; and 3,320,811.
While these devices will provide some degree of protection for one or more of the components subject to damage, they do not adequately protect the entire assembly, nor do they provide unobstructed viewing of, or access to, the components, and they are particularly deficient in protecting the neck portion of the connecting hardware. They also permit the weight of the cylinder to be transmitted to the neck portion of the connecting hardware creating an extremely dangerous condition, with the cylinder becoming a propelled missile capable of massive destruction.